Tuesday, April 9, 2013
My First Race for 2013
I ran my first 5K last weekend (4/6/2013). It wasn't my first 5K total. I've run several of them in the past. But it was my first since restarting my training this year. This was the Bentonville running festival and it has a 5K race, and also a half marathon. One nice thing about living in Bentonville is that, being the home of Wal-Mart, we are a little spoiled by how well-run events are. Not only that, but we end up with some pretty impressive guests at events. This is a good example. When I went to pick up my race shirt, number and timing chip for the race on Friday, Bill Rodgers was there signing books and taking pictures with people. He was also the keynote speaker at the pre-race pasta dinner but I didn't go to that. He's the most famous marathoner ever, so that is pretty nifty.
Endomondo Tracker
I used it as my week 5, run 3 run (Run 20 minutes, no walk periods). That would roughly be 2 miles for most people, but I'm not that fast. :)
So it's probably about a mile an a half. I didn't quite finish the entire 20 minutes with no walks. I did roughly 13 minutes on the first leg and then had to take a walk break for about 3-4 minutes. Then I did another 8 minute stretch.
"But wait," I hear you say. "A 5K is 3.1 miles. What happened to the rest of it?"
Well... I staggered through that as well. Mostly running. Some walking. My time came in at 41:53.7. My best race to date was 32:37:5, and that was running the entire distance. So I don't feel too bad about this result.
In terms of results, I finished 20th for men 45-49. That sounds pretty good... except that was out of 22. Hmm...
Overall I was 490th out of 621. That sounds a little better! :)
It doesn't really matter of course. I'm not in this to compete.
Yes, OK, somewhere in the back of my mind I had this fantasy about running the entire thing. But I didn't really expect that to happen. I'm not there yet. I did hope to finish my 20 minutes with no walks, but I'm not there yet either. So I'm repeating it this week. I know week 6 is only going to be harder and I'm not ready for it.
I've got to start dropping some pounds soon because I think that's what is holding me back more than anything. I'm currently 15 pounds heavier than when I was running at this time last year. That's not going to work. I need to start dropping some. I'm trying to eat better and I'm getting to the point in the 5K training where I should start burning off more pounds. But for weeks I've been hovering around the same 270 pounds on the scale. I'm hoping that starts changing soon.
The good news is that I'm ahead of where I have been in the past for this time of year. Usually I get serious about doing Couch to 5K more towards the summer. That's not a bad thing, but it means by the time I finish the program, most of the races are already over with because it is getting too cold for them. By starting early this year, I'll finish earlier and be working on 10K training during the summer time instead. I'd like to run at least one 5K per month and get in at least one 10K race this year, and continue on from that and be ready to run a hal
Friday, April 5, 2013
Mixed Results
I've gotten behind on posting, but I have definitely been doing my runs, or at least... attempting to.
Here is where I'm at currently on the training program:
I post both weeks because I ended up spending an extra week on the 4th stage. I just haven't felt comfortable with my progress this time. This is driving me crazy because I normally can push myself to finish a stage even if my body is screaming at me to stop. But for some of my runs I just haven't had the stamina to finish.
I've had really inconsistent results lately. I'll be able to complete the distance one day, and then the next workout is harder. It's driving me crazy.
I realized a few weeks back that I was making a big mistake because I was running in the wrong shoes. My brother got me some running shoes for Christmas and they are great shoes (Brooks Ghost), but they are not made for over pronators. I normally run in shoes that are specifically made for stability. My calves have really been hurting during and after runs and I realized that this was probably at least part of the cause.
My last pair of shoes was a pair of Asics Gel Kayano 17's, which I loved, but are getting pretty worn out. So, I went and got some more. Now they are Gel Kayano 19, and apparently a lot more flashy. These are the black and "lightning blue" color. LOL I like that. Lightning blue.... makes me feel all fast an everything. I'm um.... not even a little fast. But that's OK. It means I am going slow enough that everyone can check out my cool shoes!
My legs have been hurting a little less since I got these, so that's good. But I've still been having problems.
Most of the time when my legs are killing me, it is when I run on the treadmill. I hate running on treadmill compared to outside. I think I've mentioned that before :) . I did figure out part of what the problem was. The Couch to 5k program has periods of running alternated with periods of walking (at least up to the midway point). On the road/track this isn't a problem. But on treadmill, you have to decrease the speed of the belt. I've noticed that when I go from running (about 5.5-5.8 pace) to walking (3.5 pace), it puts a lot of stress on my calves as I deal with the belt speed change. So, what I've started doing is hopping onto the (non-moving) sides of the treadmill when i switch the speed, and then hop back on once the belt has adjusted. I think this is helping some. But I still hate running on treadmill.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to some consistently warmer temperatures. We keep having 60 to high 70 degree days that are wonderful, and then sinking back to the 30s for days on end. I guess I need to suck it up and run in the 30's, but it is no fun.
OK enough bellyaching. Now to document the actual runs.
First of all, after my last blog post where I made my distance, I had a couple of runs where I either didn't make my distance, or I just forgot to post them. So, I was running but there is no record of it. Doesn't really matter. As I said, I spent some extra time on week 4. So, the week of 3/17-3/23 looks pretty bad on my exercise calendar, but there really were runs. They were just on treadmill and I forgot to log them on my endomondo. And it's been long enough now that I don't recall exactly what the details of the runs were. They were just week 4 runs.
So, rather than make something up... I'll leave them buried in the recesses of my memory, and move on! :)
For the week of 3/24 to 3/30, I had 3 runs. Each of them were for week 4 of the program. Two of the runs were on treadmill, so I won't post an endomondo link for them. There's nothing to really see. The third run was on road. Here it is.
This course is over by some friend's house. It's technically not their neighborhood, but one right next to them. I like to run there because the entire neighborhood is one big loop and the distance around is almost exactly 1 mile, so it gives me a pretty good visual cue on my distance. You can basically see on the tracker that I started from their house on my 5 minute warmup walk, did my run around the other neighborhood and then walked back to their house (albeit the really long way). It was a good run because I made my distance!
OK and that brings us to this week. I ran outside on Sunday. Here is the link for that run. It was a very nice run. It was back at the trail from the Bentonville dog park.
I talked about this trail a few posts back. It makes a great running trail and it's close to my house, which is nice.
Here are some nice pictures from the trail:
Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, this trail also runs by the sewage treatment plant. In case you thought I was joking about that in my prior post. I took some pictures of it as well. I had time to take pictures because it just happened to be at the end point of my run for today. Aren't I lucky!
The second two would be kind of pretty if you couldn't tell that the runoff was actually coming from the plant. And yes... that is the same stream from the previous pictures. Isn't that a lovely thought.
Fortunately you can only actually smell the plant when you get pretty close to it. So it isn't too bad.
My plan at this point is to make my last week 5 run this saturday at the Bentonville Running Festival.
They have multiple events: a half marathon, a 5k, and a fun run. Since week 5 run 3 is a 20 minute (approx 2 mile) run, my thought is I might as well do it in a race. It will give me extra incentive to finish it. And who knows, maybe it will push me through the full 5k. I'm not counting on that! :)
Here is where I'm at currently on the training program:
| 4 | Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
|
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
|
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
|
| 5 | Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
|
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
|
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog two miles (or 20 minutes) with no walking. |
I post both weeks because I ended up spending an extra week on the 4th stage. I just haven't felt comfortable with my progress this time. This is driving me crazy because I normally can push myself to finish a stage even if my body is screaming at me to stop. But for some of my runs I just haven't had the stamina to finish.
I've had really inconsistent results lately. I'll be able to complete the distance one day, and then the next workout is harder. It's driving me crazy.
I realized a few weeks back that I was making a big mistake because I was running in the wrong shoes. My brother got me some running shoes for Christmas and they are great shoes (Brooks Ghost), but they are not made for over pronators. I normally run in shoes that are specifically made for stability. My calves have really been hurting during and after runs and I realized that this was probably at least part of the cause.
 |
| My new running shoes. Aren't they spiffy? |
My last pair of shoes was a pair of Asics Gel Kayano 17's, which I loved, but are getting pretty worn out. So, I went and got some more. Now they are Gel Kayano 19, and apparently a lot more flashy. These are the black and "lightning blue" color. LOL I like that. Lightning blue.... makes me feel all fast an everything. I'm um.... not even a little fast. But that's OK. It means I am going slow enough that everyone can check out my cool shoes!
My legs have been hurting a little less since I got these, so that's good. But I've still been having problems.
Most of the time when my legs are killing me, it is when I run on the treadmill. I hate running on treadmill compared to outside. I think I've mentioned that before :) . I did figure out part of what the problem was. The Couch to 5k program has periods of running alternated with periods of walking (at least up to the midway point). On the road/track this isn't a problem. But on treadmill, you have to decrease the speed of the belt. I've noticed that when I go from running (about 5.5-5.8 pace) to walking (3.5 pace), it puts a lot of stress on my calves as I deal with the belt speed change. So, what I've started doing is hopping onto the (non-moving) sides of the treadmill when i switch the speed, and then hop back on once the belt has adjusted. I think this is helping some. But I still hate running on treadmill.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to some consistently warmer temperatures. We keep having 60 to high 70 degree days that are wonderful, and then sinking back to the 30s for days on end. I guess I need to suck it up and run in the 30's, but it is no fun.
OK enough bellyaching. Now to document the actual runs.
First of all, after my last blog post where I made my distance, I had a couple of runs where I either didn't make my distance, or I just forgot to post them. So, I was running but there is no record of it. Doesn't really matter. As I said, I spent some extra time on week 4. So, the week of 3/17-3/23 looks pretty bad on my exercise calendar, but there really were runs. They were just on treadmill and I forgot to log them on my endomondo. And it's been long enough now that I don't recall exactly what the details of the runs were. They were just week 4 runs.
So, rather than make something up... I'll leave them buried in the recesses of my memory, and move on! :)
For the week of 3/24 to 3/30, I had 3 runs. Each of them were for week 4 of the program. Two of the runs were on treadmill, so I won't post an endomondo link for them. There's nothing to really see. The third run was on road. Here it is.
This course is over by some friend's house. It's technically not their neighborhood, but one right next to them. I like to run there because the entire neighborhood is one big loop and the distance around is almost exactly 1 mile, so it gives me a pretty good visual cue on my distance. You can basically see on the tracker that I started from their house on my 5 minute warmup walk, did my run around the other neighborhood and then walked back to their house (albeit the really long way). It was a good run because I made my distance!
OK and that brings us to this week. I ran outside on Sunday. Here is the link for that run. It was a very nice run. It was back at the trail from the Bentonville dog park.
I talked about this trail a few posts back. It makes a great running trail and it's close to my house, which is nice.
Here are some nice pictures from the trail:
 | ||
| These pictures are both sides of a stream that zigzags back and forth. There are several bridges on the trail that cross over this stream. |
Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, this trail also runs by the sewage treatment plant. In case you thought I was joking about that in my prior post. I took some pictures of it as well. I had time to take pictures because it just happened to be at the end point of my run for today. Aren't I lucky!
The second two would be kind of pretty if you couldn't tell that the runoff was actually coming from the plant. And yes... that is the same stream from the previous pictures. Isn't that a lovely thought.
Fortunately you can only actually smell the plant when you get pretty close to it. So it isn't too bad.
My plan at this point is to make my last week 5 run this saturday at the Bentonville Running Festival.
They have multiple events: a half marathon, a 5k, and a fun run. Since week 5 run 3 is a 20 minute (approx 2 mile) run, my thought is I might as well do it in a race. It will give me extra incentive to finish it. And who knows, maybe it will push me through the full 5k. I'm not counting on that! :)
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